


Mackerel Congee

by Eggchann



Category: Free!
Genre: Boys Kissing, Fluff, M/M, Rin taking care of Haru, Swimming losers being cute, sick!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-08 22:07:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4322553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eggchann/pseuds/Eggchann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Makoto can't take care of a sick Haru, Rin has to do the dirty work.<br/>Good luck, Rin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mackerel Congee

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you Joey ( [JoeyChanSan](http://archiveofourown.org/users/JoeyChanSan/pseuds/JoeyChanSan) ) for helping me with editing.
> 
> I tagged it Teen and Up because Rin swears.
> 
> This literally took me probably two days to write, and everything was written between 3 am to 6 am.  
> I feel deep regret.  
> I hope you enjoy!

"You can't leave him alone," Makoto had said on the phone, his tone laced with an urgency Rin had never heard before. It was quite different and a little nerve wracking. Ok, it was nerve wracking as hell. Makoto was supposed to be a wave of calmness, the epitome of the word, home, so the fact that he sounded desperate meant it would be a bad idea to ignore it. After confirming his overnight pass with Samezuka, he quickly left the school and headed to Iwatobi.

Earlier today, he had gotten a text from Makoto informing him that Haru had come down with a wicked fever, leaving him bedridden and unstable. Then Makoto had called him and practically begged him to stay with Haru since he couldn’t be there because he had to babysit the twins. Obviously Rin couldn't refuse the guy. How could he? It was an unforgivable sin to turn down the request of the saint known as Makoto Tachibana. Also, he was pretty worried about Haru. Sure, the guy got sick way too easily, but it never kept him in bed all day, so it must have been really bad. 

Rin had been out on his routine run when Makoto called. He had debated on jogging to Haru's house, but decided the train would be a better idea since it was faster. While running, Makoto had walked him through the process of caring for a sick Haruka, step-by-step. How he liked his food, what he should do if the raven woke up randomly, when he should take his medicine and things like that. It all seemed pretty normal, kind of like his needs when he was sick, except he didn't require human company. 

"Keep him out of his bathtub!" Makoto made very clear how Haru found solace in the miniature tub, soaking in the warm water until his fingers pruned. "Go in through the back door, it's never locked," he instructed. Rin took careful note of everything before they said their goodbyes and thank yous, then ended the call. He really had to thank Makoto for all the help, especially with how to get inside Haru's house since the guy rarely ever answered his door.

The train ride to Iwatobi was nothing short of irritating, the cars crowding up with students and adults coming home from school or work, the chittering of friends talking amongst themselves and the low rumble and screech in the background. He had no one to talk to and it would be odd to suddenly strike up conversation with a stranger, so Rin kept to himself and waited for the train to stop at his station. The chairs were uncomfortable and the squealing of the wheels on the rails didn't allow him to sleep, even with his earphones in and his music playing almost at max volume. He should've ran.

After what felt like ages, the robotic female voice finally announced his stop, and Rin dashed out of the packed train, immediately starting up on running to Haru's house. It was in that moment that he decided he hated trains and would avoid them as much as possible. Why take a train when he could run in the open air, the fresh scent of the approaching summer season tinged with the flowery aroma that enveloped him as he flew by a small community garden? What's not to like? He ran past Iwatobi high and along the pathway beside the beach; his body already knew the way, the muscle memory guiding him along, up the stone steps, past Makoto's house and around the corner of Haru's. The jog was a refresher for him, and he felt much better after getting his heart rate up. 

As Makoto had said, the back door was unlocked. He hopped up onto the patio, and slid open the panels, shutting them behind him. The smell of mackerel, chlorine and Haru invaded his nose the moment he set foot inside, effectively calming him down much like the effect of being around the owner of the house. He unzipped his jacket and slipped out of his runners, entering the residence with care, as if walking normally would disturb the serenity of the place. Rin made sure to pay his respects to Haru's grandmother before he tiptoed up the staircase to check on the other teen.

"Haru?" Rin whispered as he peeked inside. He glanced around the sparsely decorated room until carmine eyes locked on cerulean orbs. The redhead's heart clenched at the sight of the raven, the usual shimmer in his eyes now dimmed by the fever, his face red, and dark hair plastered to his forehead from all the sweat. A raspy sounding 'Rin' followed soon after he stepped into the room and pressed his hand to the older's forehead.

"Shh... Don't talk, just rest," ordered the healthier male pulling his hand back, "You're burning up... And sweaty as hell. I'll go grab a change of clothes for you, so don't move." Rin was met with the familiar roll of blue eyes followed by a round of coughs. Of course Haru wouldn't move, he couldn't. He mentally facepalmed and ran to the bathroom to grab a clean cloth, soaking it then wringing it dry so he could wipe the sweat off. Then Rin slipped back into Haru's room and rummaged through the closet for a clean pair of pajamas and boxers for Haru, deciding on a light button up pajama shirt and some matching bottoms. 

"Ok, I'm gonna help you up," he informed Haru as he peeled the blanket back, reaching out to help steady the shorter while he pulled off his clothes. They're friends, 'it's... It's alright once in a while, especially under these circumstances!' Rin convinced himself, heat flowing into his cheeks as he wiped the sweat off of Haru's naked body. The teen worked quickly so he could put his friend to bed. He reached over to grab the polka-dotted boxers and sat there on his knees for an awkward minute or so, trying to figure out how he would go about this. 

"Rin... Just put it on," Haru urged softly. The redhead glanced up, swallowing thickly as his gaze skimmed right over the other's groin area. He hoped his cheeks weren't as red as his hair, and if they were (they probably were), he hoped Haru couldn't see it. Rin took another minute to gather himself, then lifted Haru's foot, placing it in one of the holes, then repeating for the other. He grabbed hold of the elastic waistband and pulled it up. Once the boxers were on, everything else felt like a breeze to him. 

"Here, lemme button that for you," he said, dressing Haru back up before tucking him in; Rin felt a little bit thrown off with the lack of protest, but he figured the fever was the culprit for it. He had to resist the temptation of pressing a kiss to Haru's forehead like he did when he took care of Gou. 

Once Haru was back in bed, clean and more lethargic than ever, Rin picked up the cloth from the floor and made for the door. He would've gotten somewhere if Haru hadn't grabbed onto the hem of his shirt. It was cute, really. Rin wanted to cuddle him but first he needed to finish everything on the 'Makoto's How to Take Care of a Sick Haru' guide. 

"I won't be long, Haru. Rest." He kept his voice low and steady, trying to lull him back to sleep, or at least ease him into letting him go. God, Haru could be so damn adorable without even knowing. When the raven finally let go of his shirt, Rin went to the washroom and ran the cloth under cold water. He needed to get Haru's temperature down, and while the freestyler slept, he'd make some congee for him, something easy to stomach so he could take his medicine. He went back upstairs to lay the damp towel over Haru's forehead. Haru was asleep, brows furrowed, but he seemed to calm down after the towel was placed. It was smile worthy to see his friend painless for the time being.

Next was to make the damn congee, and with what? "Seriously?" he whined when he got a good look at Haru's fridge. One of these days he'd get through to that stubborn, mackerel-loving idiot's head, veggies and meat. Variety. Did he have time to leave for the grocery store? Haru slept like the dead on most days, but he didn't want to leave him alone. Makoto even specifically said not to leave him alone. Rin ran the palm of his hand down his face and sighed, mackerel congee?

He rummaged through the kitchen as quietly as he could, grimacing and stilling his movement when a loud bang resounded through the kitchen after hitting the pot against the sink tap. He stayed there, eyeing the staircase, listening for footsteps to see if Haru had woken. When everything seemed all clear, he continued with his preparations. 

"Yeah, wake the sick guy up while you're at it, Rin," he chastised under his breath, scooping in the rice and pouring in some water, then he placed the pot on the stove on medium heat. 

He took the mackerel out of the freezer and allowed it to defrost while the rice cooked. Then set a timer for 20 minutes on his phone and laid himself down on the tatami mats of Haru's dining room, living room (whatever the hell it was) floor. It was almost summer and the guy somehow managed to get sick. 

"This is why you need to eat a balanced meal, stupid," Rin jabbed at no one, speaking to nothing but the air. Living by himself, being sick all alone must really suck... His mind flashed back to how Haru looked, cocooned in his blanket, shivering and drenched in sweat. His breathing heavy, followed by loud sniffling sounds. He looked so vulnerable. Haru, the calm, confident loser he was usually around, now weak and lifeless almost. It stung to see him like that. A fever could do that to Haru. His Haru. Now was really not the time to start thinking about his useless crush on the raven. 

Thankfully the timer went off and saved him from the embarrassing depths of his thoughts. Rin pushed himself up and made his way to the kitchen to check on the mackerel. It would probably need a couple more minutes to defrost completely. In the mean time, he turned the dial on the stove to the lowest setting while the pot of rice simmered. 

He spent a good ten minutes playing games on his phone while he waited for the mackerel to thaw. The rice would probably take a lot longer to thoroughly cook with the low setting he had chosen, so the amount of time the fish took to defrost, didn't bother him. What did rouse him from his nonchalant state was the sound of padding footsteps from above. The soft thud, thud, thudding made him get up to go check on Haru. He stood up and pat himself down, then swiftly walked into the hallway.

"Where do you think you're going?" Rin asked, leaning against the bathroom door with his arms crossed. He narrowed his eyes as the raven stared him down, a look of defiance on his face. 

"I wanna take a bath," came the quiet response. 

He should've known. 

"Like hell you are."

"Rin, move. I wanna take a bath."

"No way, go back to be-- oi! Don't push me, hey!" There was some struggle between the two as Haru tried to move him away from the door by jabbing at his hips.

"Haru!" Rin cried out in frustration as the other continued to poke him. Before this could escalate, he quickly grabbed hold of the raven's wrist and marched him back to his room. There was some resistance on Haru's end, but he eventually managed to get the stubborn male back under the covers.

"You can't take a bath until you're better, so stay put. I'm making mackerel congee."

"I don't want it," Haru huffed and turned around so his back faced the redhead. 

Rin could feel the irritation rising in him when he heard the comment, but he wouldn't act on it. He couldn't. Not when he had a favour from Makoto, the duty to always fulfill his wishes no matter what. The crimson-eyed swimmer swallowed his snarky remarks and turned on his heels.

"I'm making it. You're gonna eat it and take your medicine," Rin announced with a tone of finality. 

"Don't want it. I don't wanna eat. Stop cooking."

He was seriously this close from snapping on the guy for being so damn childish about this. 

"Go back to sleep," Rin ordered and immediately left the room without so much as a glance. How Makoto dealt with Haru? He'd never know. It was such a hassle and he felt so bad for the brunet, he didn't deserve such a lousy best friend. 

Once he was back in the kitchen, Rin set to work on prepping the mackerel. He even made sure to get rid of any bones, and cut the fillet into bite size pieces. It took a while to properly fillet the fish (thank you YouTube), but he managed. It looked good to him, edible. 

"I don't want to eat that," came a familiar voice. Rin sighed and washed his hands with soap, cleaning under his nails and everything, then pushed his friend back to his room again.

"You gotta stop moving so much and rest, Haru."

"I can't sleep."

"Then try. Just try until I can bring you your food and medicine, then you can do whatever the hell you want."

"I don't wanna eat," Haru complained as he crawled back into bed, visibly upset with having to rest in bed all day.

"Haru, you're sick. You have to eat to ge--"

"Stop cooking and stay..." Haru whispered, cutting the other off midway through his sentence. 

Rin's heart jumped and he tensed, "what?"

Silence filled the air as Rin stared into those deep, blue eyes. Haru looked back at him.

"....stay," Haru repeated, admitting defeat when he glanced away sheepishly, a deep blush adorning his cheeks, and Rin was sure it wasn't the fever's doing.

There it goes again. His heart did that weird skipping beats thing, then sped up when he realized what Haruka had requested of him. It wasn't because he didn't want to eat; it was because he didn't want to be alone. 

How stupid of me.

He had been specifically told not to leave Haru, and that's exactly what he did. He left him alone. 

Rin ran a hand through his hair nervously and debated on whether he should sit on the floor, or on a chair. The floor looked more appealing than some uncomfortable wooden chair, so he sat down and leaned back against the edge of Haru's bed. He heard the sheets shuffling as the other seemed to be getting more comfortable, then...

"Rin."

"What?"

Silence. 

"What do you want, Haru?" He asked again after several beats of nothingness. Taking care of Haruka was like taking care of a damn three year old. At least three year olds didn't wake up and argue over everything, nor did they want baths. 

"Come."

"What..?" Rin turned around to see the raven had moved several spaces back, the blanket lifted as if he was inviting Rin to join him.

"Sleep with me," Haru clarified as deadpan as ever.

"What? No!" Oh how bad he wanted to crawl into that open space, but what kind of friend does that? Wouldn't it be considered 'taking advantage'?

"Please."

Now that was something he didn't hear too often. He heaved a sigh and moved onto the bed with a faux frown on his face. Rin seriously hoped it masked the giddiness he felt on the inside: he got to sleep with Nanase Haruka, his childhood crush. The redhead laid on his side as far away from the other as possible. It was like some subtle way of saying 'steer clear, stay away, don't come close,' but really, all he wanted to do was turn around and pull the freestyler into his arms. He wondered if Haru also did this with Makoto, and with that thought Rin felt a twinge of pain in his chest. 

"Rin, turn around."

Instead of resisting, he turned around as requested only to have the other wrap an arm around his waist and pull himself close.

"H-Haru...?" He squeaked, forgetting everything that had been running through his mind up until this moment. Now his heart felt like he'd been sprinting a five kilometer marathon with the way it jack hammered against his ribcage. If it went any faster he'd be sure to go into cardiac arrest. Holy shit, this guy is going to kill him. Either Haru couldn't feel his heart's rapid race against time, or he did but had no comment. It didn't matter to Rin, he had never welcomed silence so much before. He also didn't know how much he could handle before he finally bursts and high-tails it out of here.'Sorry Makoto but if Haru pulls any more stunts, he'd have to fight this battle himself.' 

After he received no reply from the body pressed against him, Rin pulled back just a little bit to see if he was awake. He moved as far as the arm around him allowed, and practically melted into a puddle of Rin goo. Haru had fallen asleep. Rin bit his lip and quietly reached for his phone in his pocket, pulling it out and swiftly taking a picture of the sleeping face before him. He pocketed his phone again and smiled. The raven looked at peace, child-like and absolutely adorable. Carmine eyes roamed over whatever they could see, memorizing the way dark strands splayed over pale skin, and fell gracefully over the pillow. They traced the gentle slope of Haru's nose and the curl of tiny eyelashes. However, he had to admit, his attention was mostly focused on the soft red lips, small and perfect, so kissable.

"What am I gonna do with you...?" He asked, once again receiving silence as a response. Rin sighed and brought a trembling hand up to caress the soft skin, his thumb moving downward towards the raven's chin, then tracing the seam of his lips. They were indeed as soft as they looked. He pulled the bottom lip down, parting them before leaning in to gently brush his own against Haru's. It was a fleeting kiss where one was unconscious and yet he still felt that spark, the butterflies fluttering around in his stomach when he did so. He quickly pulled back when he heard a groan and soon, cerulean eyes met crimson eyes. 

"G-go back to sleep!" Rin cried out in alarm and pulled away. But instead of getting anywhere, a strong arm kept him in place. Where did this strength come from? Haru was supposed to be sick, shouldn't he be weak and flimsy?

"Sleep! Y-you have to sleep to get better, y'know. Like.. Like--mmf..!!" He didn't even get to finish his sentence when a pair of lips met his own. It was timid at first, gentle and unmoving, just a press of lips. Then, they both seemed to pick up on the same signal as softness moved against chapped lips. He didn't know how much time had passed, all he knew was Haru had kissed him. Haruka Nanase had just fucking kissed him. He looked down towards the freestyler and suddenly it was hard to breathe because holy shit, how could he possibly be so damn cute? Haru couldn't even look at him, and he seemed to be holding back a smile that still managed to pull through. And those rosy cheeks, god Rin wouldn't live to see tomorrow.

"H-hey..." He tried to strike up some conversation, maybe get this whole kiss thing cleared up but it seemed Haru was having none of it.

"Just, shh.. Go to sleep," Haru urged, the message muffled by Rin's shirt when the other chose to bury his face into his chest. 

"You can't avoid this, y'know. I'm kind of right here," Rin pushed, earning himself a huff and a small jab to the side.

"Okay, okay. We'll talk later," he chuckled and wrapped an arm around the smaller male, pulling him closer. There was no mistake now, Haru's heart seemed to match the pace of his own, maybe it wasn't as one-sided as he had originally thought. Hell, Haru had kissed him. It was mutual. At least that's what he allowed himself to think before their talk. For now, he'd just bathe in the euphoria of the kiss and maybe catch some sleep. Yeah, he should definitely sleep, although he couldn't help but feel like he had forgotten something. Something very important. Well, he'd figure it out after a nap, he could totally use one right now. And with stupid thoughts like that, Rin slipped into a light slumber filled with dreams of a certain blue-eyed boy and kisses.

While the two slept, the pot of congee below slowly boiled until it burned, the water having evaporated leaving nothing but the rice and the mackerel left in the pot.

"SHIT!" Rin swore, jolting out of bed and bolting downstairs to tend to the burning contents of the pot, leaving a very disoriented Haru in bed. "Fuck fuck fuck, I can't believe I forgot!" He yelled and turned the stove off, pouring the contents in the trash. Haru wouldn't be able to eat it and he sure as well wouldn't subject himself to something like that. 

"Rin, something's burning." 

"I KNOW. JUST.. SHH!! GO TO SLEEP!"

FIN


End file.
